The June assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman — followed weeks later by a deadly mass shooting at Minneapolis's Annunciation Catholic School — has reignited the state's long-running fight over gun laws.

The Trump administration has claimed violent crime is rampant in Oregon’s largest city. A Trace analysis shows that shootings have actually plummeted.

A series of shootings prompted York officials to ban ghost guns and machine gun converters. But the laws may not stick.

“We just try to grow food, grow lives, and grow community. I think that's the only way that the world will get better — if everyone works hard at the same thing together.”

@thetrace.org mapped two decades of high-profile shootings at Houses of Worship. It's a sobering timeline carefully reported by @jenmascia.bsky.social and @bychipbrownlee.com

Make a gift to help The Trace inform more people about an issue that affects all of us: thetrace.fundjournalism.org?campaign=701...

A community gardening program in Milwaukee teaches young people not only about tending to plants, but also about life. If it sounds like a violence intervention program disguised as a garden, that’s because in many ways it is.

The Michigan attack was at least the 20th high-profile shooting at a house of worship in the U.S. over the past two decades. Many of the shootings were motivated by hate, while others stemmed from domestic disputes or a grudge the attacker had against the church. www.thetrace.org/2025/09/chur...

Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin and the Dallas ICE shooter both scrawled messages on their rounds. A criminologist breaks down what these inscriptions mean.

The September 28 attack on an LDS church in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, was at least the 20th high-profile shooting at a house of worship in the past two decades. Collectively, these shootings left at least 92 people dead and 100 wounded.

In several recent high-profile shootings, law enforcement has found inscriptions on perpetrators’ weapons and ammunition. The Trace spoke to Adam Lankford, a University of Alabama criminologist and an expert on mass shootings and targeted violence, to unpack what these messages mean.

Unlike many forms of public gun violence, sniper attacks evade most security measures like metal detectors and armed guards. It's hard to defend yourself from a bullet coming from 200 yards away. My latest for @thetrace.org w/ @bychipbrownlee.com and Champe Barton:

Are the writings shooters are leaving on their ammunition and weapons replacing manifestos? Adam Lankford, a University of Alabama criminologist and an expert on mass shootings and targeted violence, doesn't think so. More likely: They're trying to make their violence seem "cool."

More than 1800 detainees are missing after the closure of Alligator Alcatraz. Their families and lawyers can’t find them and they’ve vanished from the ICE database. Feels like this should be a much bigger story www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

A bill in Illinois would require gunmakers to pay into what amounts to a compensation fund for gun violence. It's sort of like workers’ comp — but for gun injuries and deaths — shifting some of the burden from victims and taxpayers back onto the industry that profits from the product.

In an undercover operation last year, the FBI recorded Tom Homan, now the White House border czar, accepting $50,000 in cash after indicating he could help the agents — who were posing as business executives — win government contracts in a second Trump administration.

We've posted the data behind this story — on the alarming prevalence of gun suicides among older Americans — on the Gun Violence Data Hub. That includes county- and state-level data that journalists can use to investigate how this issue affects their communities datahub.thetrace.org/dataset/gun-...

In 2020 the gun industry urged the ATF to add a nonbinary category to the federal background check form for gun sales. The Trump administration made the change. Now the 2nd Trump administration is reversing it. My colleague @vansant.bsky.social has the scoop:

For decades, the CDC has been a backbone of gun violence research. Now sweeping cuts are gutting that work—layoffs, slashed budgets, even the dismantling of the injury prevention team and its vital data. This research informs laws, prevention, & care nationwide.

Really important work by my colleague @amendelson.bsky.social and @thetrace.org's Data Hub. Give it a read.

Licensing fees pegged to how often firearms are recovered in fatal incidents could nudge the industry to design safer products and police supply chains, supporters say. “We accept this as normal,” Dr. Selwyn Rogers Jr. said of the daily toll of gunfire. “We should not accept this as normal.”

In Illinois, a bill called the RIFL Act would shift some of the financial burden of gun violence from victims and taxpayers back onto the industry that profits from the product. Think of it as workers’ comp, but for gun injuries and deaths.

A celebration of Harper Moyski’s life will begin at noon at Lake Harriet.

Today marks three months since Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark, and their dog Gilbert were assassinated. “A lot of leaders show up to events and doorknocks, give the rah-rah speeches, and then they leave. That was not Melissa.”

NEW: The inscriptions on bullets recovered near the scene of Charlie Kirk's murder appear to reference video games like Helldivers 2 and online furry roleplay, not a legible political ideology.

"What they did wasn’t warranted. I know for an absolute fact I did nothing wrong." George Retes, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran swept up in an ICE raid, spoke with Conor Friedersdorf: https://theatln.tc/70IO4a9F 📸: Carlos Jaramillo for The Atlantic

2 students injured in Evergreen High School shooting remain in critical condition trib.al/vvo6ItG

The WSJ carelessly spread anti-trans misinformation www.theverge.com/politics/777...

There's a lot of speculation about the motive of the man who killed Charlie Kirk. Regardless of what we learn, this assassination is an accelerant on an already burning fire. "The question is how high it’s gonna burn and how much destruction it’s gonna do," @jeffsharlet.bsky.social tells me.

Political violence like the Charlie Kirk assassination accelerates our march toward civil unrest — but it's not to late to stop it, @jeffsharlet.bsky.social tells my colleague @bychipbrownlee.com

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing, violent political rhetoric has only intensified. @bychipbrownlee.com spoke with Professor Jeff Sharlet about what this moment means and the risks of escalation.

The only thought I’m going to share on Charlie Kirk is the disheartening number of people saying “Well, he didn’t advocate for empathy, so why should I show him any?” Criticize his actions/legacy, but I truly believe the people saying things like the above don’t believe a better world is possible.

Public health experts say framing gun violence solely as an “urban” issue ignores rising rates in rural communities, especially suicides, and risks sidelining proven solutions. @fairrionam.bsky.social digs into this in her latest piece for @thetrace.org

A key member of Trump 1.0 Covid team re: the CDC news: “I think this is quite a negative and potentially catastrophic step for the country,” said Adm. Brett Giroir. “I don’t know who’s in charge, honestly, and that’s frightening because the No. 1 thing you need is somebody in charge,” he added.

Most of the states backing Trump’s crime crackdown have areas with higher gun homicide rates than the nation’s capital, a Trace analysis shows. At least 17 Mississippi counties endured more gun homicides per capita than the nation’s capital in 2024. Read: www.thetrace.org/2025/08/nati...

Some helpful historical context from my colleagues @jenmascia.bsky.social and @bychipbrownlee.com on how we got here www.thetrace.org/2024/04/colu...

“I think there’s a lack of true understanding of what violence intervention and prevention is from the top," the former director of Minneapolis's Office of Violence Prevention told my colleague @josiahbates.bsky.social.

I spoke with crime prevention expert David Kennedy about the Trump administration’s takeover of law enforcement in the nation’s capital, and the tactics that might prove more effective.

"It is true that D.C. has a chronic violent crime challenge. But it's also true that it is by no means the most dangerous city in the United States." Great reporting by @bychipbrownlee.com and @jenmascia.bsky.social putting D.C.'s numbers in context.

Myself and others smarter than me weigh in on Trump's DC takeover in this @bychipbrownlee.com @thetrace.org piece. www.thetrace.org/2025/08/trum...

DC homicides are down. Violent crime is at a 30-year low. But the city still suffers from persistent gun violence. Trump's guard deployment and MPD takeover, however, won't solve DC's chronic problems — and could make some worse. In short, it's a missed opportunity to address real needs.

Historically, presidents have deployed the National Guard to desegregate schools and protect civil rights protesters — not to police street crime, experts say. There’s little, if any, research about using the guard for everyday policing, largely because that kind of deployment is unprecedented.

President Trump took over D.C.'s police force — and suggested other cities could be next — because of "out of control" crime. But crime in these cities is decreasing. @bychipbrownlee.com and I crunched the numbers:

The DOJ has proposed reestablishing a process for people convicted of felonies to legally own guns again. A Yale professor says the new process could prevent gun restrictions from being overturned in the courts. thetr.ac/u17cC

Maryland is seeing a significant and sustained drop in gun violence. In hopes of keeping up the momentum, the state launched the Firearm Violence Data Dashboard, a public portal that shares near real-time data on shootings. Read more: thetr.ac/UiItN

Recent CDC data shows signs of progress after a surge in gun violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the overall death toll remained high. Gun suicides continued to climb, and stark disparities persisted across racial groups and regions.

Fatal shootings in the United States fell for the third consecutive year, driven largely by a drop in gun homicides and fewer firearm deaths among children, according to a Trace analysis of new federal data. However, gun suicides were up for the 6th year in a row.

The perpetrator of the July 28 mass shooting that killed four people, including a police officer, in a Midtown Manhattan office building had twice been hospitalized for mental health reasons. He was still able to get a gun.

A Yale Law School professor talks to The Trace about a Justice Department proposal that would allow some people convicted of felonies to regain their right to own guns.

The New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center avoided a $1 million budget cut that would have battered its operations. The funding provides some stability to gun violence research at a time when federal support faces uncertainty.